Valentine’s Cake (Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream, Strawberries, and Chocolate Ganache)

O yeah, I am just putting it out there.  Make this cake for your Valentine.  Today or any day of the year.  They will thank you.  My husband’s second piece yesterday was all the thanks I needed.

Chocolate cake.  You saw a wonderful chocolate cake up on this blog yesterday.  Here is a completely different one but with some of the same components and it makes for a completely different cake.  There are a couple of things that, no matter what the recipe, must be in my chocolate cake.

1. Buttermilk (I discovered this little gem in my Cake Doctor days)

2. Coffee or espresso powder (just DO it)

This particular recipe had both and it also had cake flour!  It just kept getting better and better…

First layer of strawberry filling…

So, I broke down and made it for my aunt’s birthday a few weeks ago and paired it with Joy’s Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.  My aunt was in heaven!  And I was impressed that with how light and perfect this cake was, it held up to travel, a sturdy frosting, and a baker who forgot to use wax paper in her cake pans when she was greasing. (OK, it did kinda fall apart upon cutting because of that last part but it made it there and tasted wonderful.)

I knew I would be making this cake again.  But in what capacity?  Hmm…

The only other cake that I ever dreamt about and just had to get up the next day and make it was this one.  So I took my inspiration from there.  I switched the chocolate whipped cream for vanilla.  Since I was going to use less strawberries on the cake I made sure to cram a few extra into the filling.  The chocolate ganache is just a bonus.

My GeekyLink today is iGameMom.  She writes reviews and recommendations for educational children’s apps.  I love this site and have been following it for a long time and have found many an app through her.  My 9 year old even won a science experiment kit from the site.  Well, guess what?  I am going to begin reviewing apps for her as a guest blogger!  I think this is gonna be pretty cool.

Now go make some cake!

Cherry Cornmeal Cake with Chocolate Glaze

This recipe is from the lovely ladies of Fleur-De-Licious.  A med student/law student high school friends combo that takes turns with the blog posts.  They are awesome and make me wonder what the heck I was doing with my time in college.  (Studying daddy, I swear!)

Pitting cherries without a cherry pitter is a pain in the butt, FYI.  However, totally worth it.

These ladies made their cake with a bourbon glaze but I have three kids that are gonna want a bite.  I could’ve gone for a powdered sugar glaze but I wanted some chocolate with my cherries!  I gave my neighbor some of this cake last week along with his loaf of zucchini herb bread.  He stopped me the next day and gave this cake rave reviews from him and his wife.

Fleur-De-Licious‘ cake was a bit thicker and their cherries didn’t all fall to the bottom.  I must’ve messed up on my flour a bit but that is OK because the chocolate glaze covers my flaws.

I didn’t change the recipe enough to post it here.  I only upped the salt and vanilla to 1 teaspoon each.  However, the changes they made to the original recipe that this is based off of are phenomenal.  Brown butter and brown sugar?  Genius!  I did whip up my own glaze, however, but feel free to use your favorite.

One bite…

My GeekyLinks are all Doctor Who related.  Some old and one new as we are gearing up for the new season that is supposed to come our way soon (August? September? not sure yet).  Also, just to make me feel a bit better about not going to Comic-Con.  You know what, I was busy that last resale day but I wasn’t sure which day to get tickets for anyway.  I was thinking maybe Sunday but didn’t get any and so of course the Doctor Who panel and the Fringe panel are on Sunday and I am not going.  *hrmph*  Anyways, a few months ago Scientists invent real “Doctor Who sonic screwdriver”, someone actually put a monetary value on the TARDIS, and (spoilers) new pictures of an upcoming episode.

Two bites…

Sundays with Joy/Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Pops

I know it is Monday and again I am late with my Sundays with Joy.  It was because of a very busy family filled weekend.  My brother-in-law celebrated his 40th on Saturday.  My brother had come down to celebrate with us and we spent most of Sunday with him as well.  Then my husband and I spent Sunday afternoon buying our very first smartphones and we spent the evening playing around with those.  I figured I could get up early and get this post out less late then it is now but my kitty that had surgery had some issues that we felt we should take care of early this morning.  It turned out to be nothing but better safe than sorry (and less money spent) where our Sally is concerned.

Now onto the Pops!  Can I tell you and would you believe me that these were the best and easiest thing that we have made so far?!  As I started to eat my first (of three over the weekend), I couldn’t get over how good they were.  I was actually able to make them Saturday before the party and left them to freeze.  It took me no time at all.  I fit it in while frosting my brother-in-law’s birthday cupcakes.  I was eating my first after we got home from the party.  All my kid’s loved them too.  My daughter that doesn’t eat fruit will even lick mine until she sees the fruit, then stop.  Also, I used bananas for mine instead of raspberries mostly just because it would’ve meant an extra trip to the store.  My brother had one on Sunday, loved it, but said that he would really like to have tried one with raspberries.  He was also pretty impressed with my signed copy of the cookbook (he is a Joy the Baker Podcast listener) and is thinking of buying his own copy of her cookbook.

I also just used paper cups and (dangerous sharp point!) candy apple sticks (I thought I had popsicle sticks but I am just glad I had something).  I didn’t want to have to go out and buy anything new for the recipe.  Now that I have tried it I want to buy some popsicle molds just so I can make it again and again and again and have it look prettier.  Someone that made it earlier in the week said to use smaller chocolate pieces such as mini chocolate chips so I just ended up flaking it off and chopping it very fine.  Even in an ice cream, I prefer the chocolate flakes to chips.  Just writing this I am craving another…

My GeekyLink for today is the trailer for the new season of Breaking Bad.  It is one of a handful of shows that my husband I watch together and we both really love it.  The season premiere is just under 2 weeks away and we can both barely wait.   In the meantime, AMC is doing a good job of showing old episodes.  Catch up!  You won’t regret it.

Nutty Bar Cookies and Old (in our 30s) Friends

Finally, here is the cookie I have been working on for about a month now and I really like it.  Aside from oatmeal (which I think helps keep the crispy cereals stay crispy) I also have cornflakes and rice krispies in it.  I LOVE both of them in here but if you only want to go with one of those, go with the rice krispies.

So yep, these were the cookies that were for someone so I guess you are wondering who, right?  They are for my oldes friend, my best man, my oldest daughter’s godfather, my friend Guillermo.  Unfortunately for him, he won’t get any because he lives too far away and with the chocolate drizzled on top, it makes them precarious to send.  So he will need to come visit us to get some.  (hint, hint)

All baked!

He was in the Peace Corps some years ago and I either gave him some Nutty Bars once or twice before he left or I sent him some once he was gone (who remembers? jeez we are getting old).  I really never knew he was a big fan of the whole chocolate/peanut butter combo till after we graduated high school and we had met when we were freshman.  About a month or so after school had started, he walked right into our (my friend Kim and I) third period religion class.  We all still keep in touch. Some years more than others but still…

I know I have given him some Reeses over the years too, but the Nutty Bars have stuck with me because I actually never had them until he introduced me to them.  They are from Little Debbie and we had always been more of a Hostess family.

Melted and ready to drizzle!

I really just kinda wanted to see if I could pull it off or not and even though it took me multiple tries, I am really pleased with the results.  Plus, I know Guillermo will come and get them at some point.  We live pretty close to his family, so whenever he is in town he makes sure to come visit his goddaughter.  He is always here around Christmas, at the very least, and I am usually making Christmas goodies or something for my son’s birthday when he stops by and we have a good catch up over buttercream and wine.  Can you beat that?  I doubt it.

My GeekyLink for this week is Fashion It So.  It goes through all the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generations and goes through the fashions of each episode.  It is certainly hilarious but also a bit enlightening.  Also, I just finished Season 5 of The Guild and I don’t know how Felicia Day could have topped the first four seasons but she did.  TONS of nerd cameos and yet you still stay tethered to the story of the main six guild members.  Please watch this show!  Only 6 or so hours of your life will put you up to date with this wonderful series.  Streaming on Netflix or on the YouTube Channel geekandsundry (new episode every Tuesday).

Andes Mint Brownies and Cookies (and Fringe and Star Trek and Doctor Who)

O man, sometimes my husband’s job takes its toll.  Not just on him but on all of us as well.  He mostly works at night but one day of the week he works in the early evening and on his days off he tries to keep to his sleep schedule as much as possible while being awake with us in the afternoon, so basically his sleep patterns are all mixed up.

I would be fine with that.  I am a mom.  I get up with babies that need to be sleep trained or are sick, kids that need to get up for school, up early with three kids dressed and prepped for a random day at Disneyland or family function, and also on occasion try to stay up late and spend time with my husband.  When I am tired, I sleep.  He is not one of those people.  If he NEEDS to sleep, he feels the pressure of having to sleep and then he CAN’T sleep.  The weird hours he works just make it worse.  Some days it is not a problem, or mostly just a problem for me trying to keep the 3 and 4 year old as quiet as possible while he is sleeping.

Some days, the days that he can’t sleep, o geez, we are all in for it.  It will be quiet, for an hour or so and then he will come out of the bedroom to use the restroom.  Quiet for another hour and he will come down and get something to eat, saying that food will help.  Quiet for another hour, then just rail about how he is in for it and he will NEVER get to sleep.  At this point I know I am going to have to take my son with me to my daughters’ dance class (which I HATE because what is a 3 year old boy supposed to do in a confined space for 2 hours with limited distractions?), I know I am going to have to make his lunch, and feed him dinner after everyone else is finished.  It ends up being such a mess.  It has to be done, though.  I do feel bad for him but sometimes I feel like he makes it worse.  He claims this current schedule (his schedule also changes every 6 months!) is worse but actually I think he hasn’t had as many of these kind of days lately as he has in the past.  However, today is one of those days, ugh.

Overall this week has also been kind of weird (let’s not even talk about Valentine’s Day).  I usually have my kids chomping at the bit for the things I am baking.  This week was WAY different.  My nephew was the one that had asked for mint buttercream on his Despicable Me cupcakes, the cupcakes that my daughters wanted nothing to do with because of said (completely yummy!) buttercream.  No fun.  So I knew when I decided to use my Andes Baking Bits that I bought at Target about a month ago, that the bulk of these treats would be going to my sister’s house.  My baby boy had a couple of cookies and my husband sampled some brownies but my girls wanted nothing to do with them, I don’t know what their problem is.  As a mother and a baker, it is really disappointing.  Really? I can’t get you to eat a chocolate brownie or cookie, geesh!

Anyways, I was thrilled and happy with both.  If I had to pick a favorite though, it would have to be the cookie.  I adapted the recipe from one that called for peanut butter in it and replaced it with Nutella.  I just love the flavors of that cookie and it is a nice chewy cookie.

The plate that went to my sister's house.

I have a backup of GeekyLinks right now so you will get a few and also wanted to tell you about all the nerdy and exciting things that I have been doing lately.  First off, my Friday nights and Sunday lunches have just gotten FABULOUS!  I have been watching Fringe live on Fridays (as much as I can because Justin is trying to get out the door during the first 20 minutes and it is all “bye daddy” and “can you help me with my lunch”) and have been following along with The Fringe Podcast at the same time (Tweeting as well, whatever it takes to keep the show on the air!)  At the end of the show, you send in your Bunsen Burners (your ratings for the episode) and during the show you can try to figure out what the glyphs spell out.  Sundays, Clint and Darrell do the podcast live and you can chat and comment during it and sometimes they will ask the chat room questions and such.  If you sent them feedback about the show either Friday or Saturday, they may play it and comment on it during the feedback show immediately following the recap show.  It is a fun few hours if you are a fan of Fringe.

My other GeekyLinks just go to show how GREAT science fiction just goes together 10 actors with roles in both Doctor Who and Star Trek and Doctor Who/Star Trek – The Official Crossover.

Also, hopefully I will be able to go to this on Friday with my daughter who has the day off from school.

Chocolate Love: Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

My family, for all the years and all the parties, is usually big buttercream fans.  However, every once in a while my grandma or my aunt would switch it up and have a whipped cream cake with strawberries.  I don’t know if it was the season or they just wanted to change it up, but us kids were never really happy about it.  Whether the cake itself was white or chocolate was about a 50/50 chance.  Now that I am older, though, and bake more I have certainly come to appreciate a good whipped cream (really, it isn’t that hard to appreciate).

All the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Someone came running when she smelled the cocoa powder.

One day last week, I just really wanted cake.  Strawberries were on sale, I knew I needed them to try something but I couldn’t remember what it was (getting old, ugh), so I figured I would make a cake with a whipped cream frosting and add the strawberries in the filling.  I wanted to eat it at home alone with my husband and my kids and basically just hoard the thing.  Then my aunt called.  She said my cousin, who is a Marine Reservist, was shipping out next week and we were going to get together the next day to wish him well and send him off.  I baked the cake (I ended up choosing chocolate), put it in the fridge, and decided to save it for the family.

Chocolate Whipped Cream

I slept, not knowing what exactly I was going to do for the frosting.  I did want to still do whipped cream but sometimes whipped cream can be so temperamental.  I mean, you have to do it just right and I don’t think I have ever frosted a whole cake with it before.  Did I want to add anything to it to try and help it hold up (I did not), vanilla or chocolate (chocolate obviously), granulated sugar or powdered sugar (granulated had been working for me so I used that but then ended up adding some powdered sugar to taste)?  In the end, it turned out pretty fantastic if I do say so myself, I just wish I had added a few more strawberries in the filling.  Even my sister, a lifelong hater of whipped cream frosting, really liked it.  I also wish however, that I was able to take a better picture of the sliced cake.  I did take some cake home but my son and I got into the leftovers before it even occurred to me to take another picture. It was good, sue me!

The Filling! There should have been no spaces in between the strawberries. I should have even overlapped them. I know for next time!

So with all that family talk my GeekyLink this week is something for my sister and brother.  We were big Growing Pains fans back in the day and I bought the first two of many compilation books of the Walking Dead for my sister for Christmas (OK, kinda for me too but that’s how we roll).  This speaks to both of those things The Walking Dead Season 2 Alternate Title Sequence.

Even with the crappy picture, it still looks pretty tasty.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Banana Bread for World Nutella Day

I am here today to celebrate with you, no not the Superbowl, something much, much better.  It is February 5 and that means it is World Nutella Day!

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso have hosted this event since 2007 to celebrate the chocolate hazelnutty goodness that is Nutella.  And O, it is SO GOOD.  I am relatively new to the pleasures of it.  I have probably only been eating it for about two years.  Last year, I followed World Nutella Day on Facebook and I was overwhelmed when World Nutella Day came along and I saw the myriad of things that you could make with it.  I was super bummed that I didn’t have anything to share or even if I did, that I couldn’t because I didn’t have a format to share it.  Also, this is the first time I have ever written a blog for an event like this.  I missed out on the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap because I was a great big chicken.  I had only about two months of blogging under my belt and I was way intimidated.  I wasn’t going to let that happen again.  I knew this was coming up and I wasn’t going to miss it.

To be honest, this is actually my first time baking with it.  I am not sure if it is because I do just love the simple joy of Nutella spread on some wheat toast (sometimes with sliced bananas) and I kind of feel like baking with it might spoil that for me or because if I decide to bake with it that I will end up having to buy the double jumbo size jars at Costco and then end up not baking with it but just eating it!  Either way, I think I am just going to have to do it more.  I think next time I want to whip it into a frosting for something.  There really is SOOO much you could do and it all sounds fabulous so like them on Facebook or check out World Nutella Day in the next few days to get all the recipes and really, just get your Nutella on!

This is right before I realized that I forgot the eggs. Thank goodness I realized!

I decided to start simple and adapted a Peanut Butter Banana Bread from Joy the Baker (who else?).  I replaced the peanut butter for Nutella, added a little cocoa powder, added a bit of vanilla,  almost left out the eggs and then almost added too many, then of course, topped it off by adding chopped hazelnuts and mini chocolate chips.  Awesome!

The GeekyLinks for today are just a couple of nerdy posters.  I decided to keep it simple today.  First, some Batman and the history of the Batsuit (click on it to make it bigger) and then some Star Wars Movie Posters For Other Movies which speaks to the movie nerd in me.

Chocolate, Caramel, Peanut Butter and Pretzel Cookies

I got the idea for these cookies from Sugar Cooking.  I thought, wow these are kind of like a Take 5 candy bar.  I was going to make them as is but the more I thought about it, I realized they were missing something…caramel.  There are also no peanuts in this cookie and I know a Take 5 has peanuts and peanut butter but the peanut butter chips will have to do for both.  Plus, how many other things can I stuff into this cookie?

This many!

If you don’t want to deal with cutting up the caramel, I suppose you could use toffee chips to get that flavor but you won’t get the chewy.  Let me tell you, that chewy is what keeps you coming back for more.  I ate way too many of these.  The crunchy, salty, chocolaty, peanut buttery elements don’t hurt either, let me tell you.  But oh, the chewy!

My sister even liked these cookies and she is one of the most picky people I know.  I didn’t even think she would try it just because of all the different elements.  She, just like my husband, doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the stuff I cook or bake so when they like it, I know it is good.

The two most important things about this recipe are to a) chill your dough and b) let your cookies cool on the cookie sheet till you can take them off cleanly or this…will happen.

Follow those two rules and you shouldn’t have any problems and you will be thrilled with the results.

My GeekyLink for this week is Blogtor Who.  They have a Doctor Who podcast and they even did a podcast for Torchwood: Miracle Day.  The funny thing is, one of the commentators just recently started watching Doctor Who.  Sacrilege for someone doing a podcast about it I know, but it is awesome because now they are starting over, podcasting the Series (Season) 1 Doctor Who episodes with Christopher Eccleston aka The Ninth Doctor.  They put a new one up every Saturday!  Seeing as you can get those episodes on Netflix, why not follow along?

Chocolate Malt Cake and Despicable Me Cupcakes, Keeping Me Busy

Both these treats were what I was working on over the last two weeks that either caused me to post late and/or not post at all.  Blame my wonderful nephews.

First up, is the Chocolate Malt Cake.  It just so happens that my nephews go to my grade school alma mater.  As it is a private school, along with tuition, fundraisers are a big part of the whole process.  So every year, in October, they have a big one called Family Fun Day.  In my day it was a weekend festival, which some former students think is better but I have to say with the exception of confetti eggs, this one is better.  I love the bingo they play for prizes in the hall and the classroom raffles are really good.  I never spend as much money on my kids playing games, face painting, food and sweets, or playing on different inflatable contraptions than I spend on raffle tickets and bingo games (some years we even win a few things, but this was a bad year, not one thing).  Another thing they have every year is a Cakewalk.  So one afternoon, I get a call from my sister asking, ” You are gonna make a cake for the cakewalk right?”  To be fair, I had made one for every year since I can remember, but I was trying to sort out my schedule in my mind to make sure I had the time and before I could answer her, she says, “Cause I signed you up.”

Before Ganache

Yay!  The only issue I had was not the time to make the cake but what cake to make?  It took me two days of looking and then I saw this cake and knew instantly.  I used her recipe exactly so I won’t post it here except I did use the ganache recipe that I had used in my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.  Her ganache looks a bit glossier but mine did too when I first poured it.  I didn’t get to take good pictures till later in the day after I had refrigerated it a bit (this was when my lights still weren’t working).  The cake itself baked up so nicely that maybe, if I can adapt it without the malt, it might just be THAT chocolate cake.  We shall see…

The only recipe you are gonna get from me this week is for the frosting for these cupcakes.  I thought it was a little odd that an 8 year old would ask for a mint frosting and I almost asked him to change it, but it was what he wanted so I went with it.  Did I mention not only is my daughter smart, my nephews are too?  He was so right!  The chocolate cupcakes with the mint frosting were spot on.  The kids weren’t put off by the mint at all and of course the adults loved them.  It was a great idea and I look forward to doing it on a more refined scale over again.  The chocolate cupcakes were my standard Buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake Doctor cake that I use all the time and also used for my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.

As it WAS an 8 year old’s birthday, I needed to add Despicable Me Minions to the cupcakes.  I got this idea from pluckymomo.com (sorry no link, it wouldn’t work for some reason).  She credits Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for the idea but I like pluckymomo’s version better.  It seemed simpler overall and didn’t require me to buy an edible ink pen or black licorice whips (eew).  I just had to buy the Twinkies, Smarties, and black gel color which I was able to use for the grey and black buttercream frosting for the goggle details.  I also drizzled it on top of the frosting later because I was thinking the frosting tip I used (which is my favorite for cupcakes, maximum coverage without piling on the frosting) made them look a bit girly.  Drizzle some grey and black stripes on top, problem solved.  The Minions would have looked nicer if I had more time than the hour and a half between my daughter’s soccer game and the party to make them.  The recipe said the Twinkies would dry out but also said the kids wouldn’t care.  I should have listened and just done them earlier.  Especially since I kept them sealed in Tupperware and that is how I transported them to the party, it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

My GeekyLink this week is The Guild – a web series about gamers.  I have heard so much about this show and the show’s creator Felicia Day.  She is virtually on any cool podcast out there, is around at all the Cons, and overall is like Nerd Princess of the World right now.  I had heard so much about this show and was interested but didn’t make the effort until last week.  Which really wasn’t that much effort, I checked if it was streaming on Netflix.  The first four seasons (the fifth just ended and not available on Netflix yet but is online and I haven’t gotten to it yet) are SO FUNNY and so short (a whole season lasts about an hour) that it is SO worth the effort.  Check it out, you will not be dissappointed!

Here we go….Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

• Sooo, here we go!  My first post is unfortunately an old recipe (which is what happens when you start a blog in the middle of the night and don’t plan a thing out) but it is one of my favorites.  I got the idea from Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes — Joy the Baker.  My chocolate cake however, is from a box.  What?!  You say.  How could you?!  You say.  Well, to be honest, so far I haven’t found THAT chocolate cake yet.  I did find THAT vanilla cake just recently but that is another post.  I used the Cake Mix Doctor :.  I LOVE that chocolate cake. You have to use buttermilk (but if you don’t have any, there are always The Best Buttermilk Substitutions — Joy the Baker.) more cocoa powder and yes, vanilla.  This cake always comes out perfect, round edges with a flat top, beautiful!  For the filling I halved the peanut butter buttercream in Joy’s cupcake recipe, then I added a chocolate ganache frosting. Lastly, was a sprinkle of cut up peanut butter cups.  Here is another shot of it.

Yummy, right?  Here is the recipe…

But wait, before we get there, here is where the nerdy comes in.  I have decided that I am going to post what I am going to call a GeekyLink on every post.  It was going to be a nice Hunger Games picture but I just got this Geek out / Globe.Faustus.2498.jpg (450×676) on Pinterest and I couldn’t resist.  So yes, my first GeekyLink is inevitably a Dr. Who reference.  It is Arthur Darville, AKA Rory Williams, AKA Rory Pond, AKA The Last Centurion.  Amy is a lucky lady!